NYC tourists spend record-breaking $30b.

The city announced yesterday that tourist spending in 2008 has topped record levels set last year. Officials credited the increase to a rise in international visitors to the city, who comprise about a third of the city's tourists but account for more than half of spending.

The city said

Those numbers had made New York City the top tourist destination in the United States for the first time in 2007, surpassing Orlando and Las Vegas. Given the record year, officials expected the city to remain number one.

The city said that tourism figures were pushed by an influx of foreign visitors, 9.8 million in total, which was a million person increase over last year. The city linked the rise to efforts to market the City to visitors abroad, including the expansion of NYC & Company, the city's tourism agency, to more international markets.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The city agency opened three new offices in the past year in Toronto, Sydney and Mumbai, bringing its total around the globe to 18, which it says provides it access to 25 markets.

Tourism has been one of the few encouraging signs amid darkening economic times. New York City has been ground zero for the crisis that has engulfed the financial sector and, along with the state, has been hard hit by the sharp deterioration of revenues derived from that industry.

Because much of the financial industry is headquartered in Manhattan, the city has also had to deal with sharp job losses and office vacancies, problems that have exacerbated the pain of an economy already in decline and that economists say could be locked in a deep recession through next year and perhaps beyond.

"Despite the economic challenges all cities are facing, tourism remains a bright spot for New York City," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a statement released by his office. "To be sure, the ongoing downturn will weigh on New York City's hospitality industry as people all over the world cut back on travel, but the investments we've made to promote New York City will continue to pay dividends, now more than ever. The importance of diversifying our economy is clearer today than ever, and we will continue to make strategic investments to promote New York City and keep it the place travelers want to come."